Letter from Micah of Hands Kitakami Volunteer Project

Letter from
volunteer Micah (exchange student) to Japan Studies Student Leaders,
Willamette University. Copied here with permission from Micah and Anna Thomas of the HANDS Kitakami NPO

The coast along Kamaishi, taken on March 29th 2011

Dear my lovely JSSL-ers,

Greetings
from Japan! Many of you may not know who I am, so I shall take a brief
moment to introduce myself. I am Micah Mizukami, junior, spending a year
at TIU. Last year I was the president of JSSL.

I
write to you all today because I would like to share my experience
volunteering in Iwate Prefecture. In November of last year, I went to
Iwate for the first time with two other Willamette students, Emily
Abraham and Heather Hurlburt, if you know who they are. Yesterday I came
back from Iwate again after volunteering for four days by myself.

I’m
sure you all have seen the pictures of the damage and destruction that
was caused on March 11, 2011. Nearly a year has passed since that day,
and things have been cleared up quite a bit. By taking a look at these
pictures, you can see how far the clean up process has progressed. http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/02/09/see-how-japan-has-rebuilt-in-the-11-months-since-the-earthquake-and-tsunami/

As
all of you are part of JSSL, you are all bound by a common interest in
Japan. If you have the opportunity to come to Japan, whether to study
abroad or not, I highly recommend volunteering. Although the pictures in
the link above make it seem like everything is okay, do not be
deceived. There is still a lot of work that needs to be done in the
Tohoku region of Japan.

I
spent Wednesday through Saturday of last week volunteering in two
different cities in Iwate, both of which are shown in the link above.
The first two days were spent in Rikuzentakata and the other two were
spent in Kamaishi. Back in November, I went to Kamaishi, so I was
already familiar with the area, but Rikuzentakata was a first. As we
drove to the work site, I could not comprehend what was before my eyes.
There was nothing. If you look at the pictures of Rikuzentakata in the
link above, you will see that there is, in fact, nothing. Nothing but
dirt. Debris separated and organized into mounds. A few buildings
(three, or four) remain, but are badly damaged. It’s as if a town never
existed there. On my first day in Rikuzentakata, I helped build rafts
used to grow and harvest oysters. The second day I spent cleaning dirt
off of letters, postcards, and other paper documents.

In
Kamaishi, also pictured in the link above, half of the town is
perfectly fine, unaffected by the tsunami. The other half, however, is
eerily quiet, a deserted ghost town. It truly feels like a
post-apocalyptic world. Some buildings have been torn from their
foundations [*], nowhere to be seen, while others stand falling apart,
debris scattered everywhere. The first morning in Kamaishi was spent
helping an old woman, whose house was lost to the tsunami, move her
things from a friend’s house into a temporary housing facility. This old
woman was so grateful that she treated the two other volunteers and me
to tea and Japanese sweets. She also talked of her experience with the
disaster and how she was safely out of the country for a wedding, but
how many friends and acquaintances were lost to the devastation. Despite
losing her house, many of her belongings, and friends, seeing her
gratitude and generosity after simply helping to move her things was
quite moving.

Other
jobs in Kamaishi included removing dirt, oil, and other debris from the
gutters, cleaning a mound of what used to be a barbershop, and walking
around Kamaishi with a map to mark down which buildings still need to be
cleaned out before being torn down. Another incident that left an
impact on me during volunteering was cleaning the pile of debris that
was once a barbershop. While cleaning up, an old woman sitting in the
back of a taxi passed by, and seeing the volunteers, she bowed her head
deeply towards us. It was a silent display of gratitude and I’m not sure
if any of the other volunteers noticed, but the old woman bowing
silently in the taxi left a deep impression on me.

However,
we are all volunteers. As volunteers, we have no expectations to be
thanked. Instead after volunteering, we thank the person who asked us to
volunteer before leaving the work site. Thank you for letting us work
here. In November at the quick volunteer orientation, we were told that
volunteers should not have the mindset of ボランティアをしてあげる, but instead think in terms of ボランティアをさせて頂く.
I will humbly receive the favor of volunteering, not I will give you my
help volunteering. It is with this spirit that we volunteer. We are all
grateful for being allowed to work in such an area, grateful to learn
from the experience of volunteering.

I
met many wonderful people during my stay in Iwate. All of the
volunteers are truly people to look up to. They spend their free time,
their weekends, volunteering. Some even spend all their time
volunteering, with no salary or income. They all know that there is
still a lot left to do, but they work while smiling, laughing. Everyone
works as hard as they can, does the job as best they can. If I have the
chance, I want to volunteer a third time this spring. I hope that other
Willamette students will go and volunteer as well. While the jobs vary
in type and intensity, help is always welcome.

I
apologize at how long this email has become, but it is my hope that
JSSL will spread the message that although nearly a year has passed,
Tohoku should not be forgotten. Even though the pictures make it seem as
if everything has been cleaned up, that is not the reality of the
situation. A lot remains to be done.

I
wish you luck with Sakura Matsuri preparations and such. I am also very
impressed at your organization in welcoming the ASP students this year.
Keep up the good work!

Thank you.

Peace and Love,

Micah Hisa Mizukami

[*]
The buildings in Kamaishi reduced to foundation were mostly torn down
later. Rikuzentakata's buildings were not, they were washed away. --Anna



 Thanks again to Anna Thomas of the HANDS Kitakami NPO for allowing us to reprint Micah's letter.

Vol Projects: Aid Distribution #1: The Warehouse

Volunteering Projects: Aid Distribution #1: The Warehouse

For this series, I’d like to walk through several of the various volunteer projects out there.  Volunteering in Tohoku involves many different types of work. Everything from gutting buildings – digging and scrubbing mud – gutting houses – knocking down walls – running community cafes – holding soup kitchens – clearing ditches – building shelves – unloading massive trucks – and so forth.

For today’s entry, I thought I’d quickly talk about the process of warehouse distribution. On Jan 26^th, we worked with a team effort by It’sNot Just Mud and the On The Road project to lend support to DSP (DisasterSupport Project) to help move 130 tons of aid that was expected to arrive over a two-day period at their Warehouse facility in Natori city, just outside of Sendai. This one of their aid warehouses is based out
of the gymnasium of a junior high school in Natori that was devastated by the
tsunami.  Although the damage to the central building has resulted in it being abandoned, the gymnasium was cleared
out, and now provides a space for hosting the incoming aid for distribution to
refugee shelters until last Summer, and is now targeted aid relief for the
residents of the Temporary Housing facilities. However, many of the prefecturally managed distribution centers will be disbanded on March 11th, following the first year anniversary of the disaster.

Natori Junior Highschool - Jan 26th, 2012

When unloading the trucks, there are several different
strategies to handle the unloading process efficiently. Some teams
prefer to set up distribution lines, and pass goods from one person to
the next in long chains.  Other teams tend to rely on loading trailer
carts until they are full, and then carting the supplies to their
resting point. For heavy boxes, it's often easiest to form long lines,
and to have people progressively push the boxes along the floor to reach
the resting point. 




The work load is reliant on the timing of the trucks to arrive. During the Summer and Fall the trucks generally arrive on time, but once the snow starts falling, truck arrivals become quite random.  On this day, we had
to split up our lunch break into four separate sessions.  After a slow
morning, we suddenly had an onslaught of three trucks show up almost as
soon as the previous one had left.  Due to difficult traffic conditions,
there was no way to confirm when the trucks should be coming. 




Either way, it's quite satisfying to stand in a room with tons of aid, and
knowing that it'll be helping out the residents of the temporary housing
units in the near future.  

Unloading boxes of clothing and blankets from the trucks

Here is a video produced by our work team, courtesy
It's Not Just Mud, with an entertaining view of the unloading/loading
process. Please check it out!

The trucks have finally been emptied. 

Otsukare sama deshita / After the long day.

Holiday Volunteering (Part 1)

A team of 9 Santas visited Temp Housing Units alongside the regular SaveMinamiSoma distribution.

Although this article is a little late, I still thought it would be worth writing about how the volunteer groups I’ve been working with operated over the Winter Holidays. On December 23rd, FVJ members rejoined the Save Minamisoma Project ( www.saveminamisoma.org ) to help out on one of their most ambitious missions yet. On top of the regular bi-weekly delivery of aid and supplies for 1000 people living in temporary residences in the town of Minami-Soma, they also sent up a team of nine Santas to canvass the neighborhoods, and bring donated presents directly to the housing units with young kids.

Expecting somewhere between 400 to 500 children in the Temporary Housing communities of Minami-Soma, the SaveMinamisoma Project brought up presents from three sources. The first batch were gift bags arranged by the SMP team, the second batch was of presents collected by Angela Kennewell who organized a large Toys for Tohoku toy drive (that also supplied our orphanage visit the next day), and the third source were wonderful hand-made Christmas cards produced by all of the kids in Adam Shaw’s classes in Shirogane. (These cards were awesome, by the way!)

One of the many cards written for Tohoku by Adam Shaw's classes in Shirogane, Tokyo

 The Save MinamiSoma project has been actively distributing fresh food, nonperishables and water up to the residents of MinamiSoma, Fukushima since late March.  While their early distribution efforts were concentrated on bringing any supplies possible to address the specific needs of a few specific refugee shelters, they made a distinction early on to focus on distributing supplies fairly, and evently across the entire population of refugees across the city.

Although it is logistically difficult for a small group to provide for such a large demographic, SMP has developed an elaborate system for ensuring fairness and evenness for their distributions.

First, they work closely with a local NPO called "Side-by-Side" ( http://www.side-by-side-intl.org/130.html ) to canvas the neighborhoods and find out general information about each neighborhood, such as general demographic information, and assessing specific needs in the community, such as the need for children's goods or elderly-care items. 

Then, they hold large fundraisers every second month.  This month's one will be held tomorrow (On Friday Feb 3rd, 20:00pm onwards) at Club Velours.  Details available on the Facebook Invite page ( http://www.facebook.com/events/153195538123521/ )  Each fundraiser pulls in a couple thousand dollars, and 100% of that money is directed towards buying fresh vegetables and food for the temporary housing communities of MinamiSoma.  Truck rentals, gas and other transportation logistics are generally covered by rotating sponsor organizations.

SMP Distribution project in October

Since the group is still small, they've been effective in practically addressing how much they can accomplish in each run, and based upon how much they've been able to raise. On average they aim to provide 4-5 days worth of supplies for around 1000 people for each run.  To address this, each distribution run aims to cover 4~5 temporary housing communities.  Since there are close to 7000 people who've lost their homes, SMP gradually rotates across the various communities for each run.  The 4 communities visited during the Christmas run have now been visited 4 times by the group, and the two runs in January were also the 4th visits to those respective communities.

SMP co-founder August distributing Water on Dec 23rd

While the idea of free distribution of supplies has been discouraged in some communities with recovering economies (such as Ishinomaki), group co-founder August Hergesheimer says that the project address the temporary housing residents of "Minamisoma who lost their homes from the tsunami or forced evacuation due to the radiation. They also lost their future due to the radioactive contamination of their farmland and sea. They receive very little additional support for food, utilities, and other daily expenses."

"What we do may be very little, but we feel that it is better than nothing and also important to show them that many people care for their well-being. This is why we continue to support Minamisoma."

Please visit the Save Minamisoma Project Webpage or Facebook group for more information about their activities. They are always looking for new volunteers to join on the runs, help load the trucks, drivers with Chuugata (up to 8 ton) licenses, help organize the events, and general supporters as well. 

NHK regular Daniel Kahl explaining how to apply Thai hand-sanitizer

 A young boy excited about his gift and card.

Volunteer Trevor Impey brings supplies to a Temp Housing unit.

Survey on Tokyo hazard vulnerability and preparation

Relief supplies for Minamisoma - During delivery by Rescue Japan

Please fill in the Survey on tokyo hazard vulnerability and preparation

This survey aims to gather information related to disaster preparedness
from residents in Tokyo targeting 4 Wards (Edogawa, Koto, Meguro and
Minato)



It focuses on the following hazards Floods, Tropical storms and Typhoons, Water scarcity, Fire, Extreme heat, Extreme cold.



Fill in the form here:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dGVBWVFMNkUxZFdFeVRDdnlRb1VpV3c6MA



Results will be used for a presentation in December and essays to be
completed by the New Year. Basic data will be posted in mid December
(First on Sarajean Rossito's excellent NPO-focused blog:   http://sarajeans-notes.blogspot.com/ and then I'll also post the results both her and on www.foreignvolunteersjapan.org )

東京の災害に対する脆弱性とその防災意識調査

Please share this link for the J survey on hazard preparedness:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dFdZM29ONllzNVdsLWg5cHNRcU1jR2c6MA

東京の災害に対する脆弱性とその防災意識調査

この調査は、国連大学の災害と人道援助のコースの履修生によって行われています。東京都民の災害に対する防災意識についての情報を収集しております。洪水、
熱帯性暴風雨、台風、水不足、火災、猛暑、厳しい寒さといった天候に起因する災害に焦点を絞ってご質問させていただきます。

お近くにお住まいの地域の方々にもこのアンケートに答えてくださるようお誘いいただければ幸いです。東京の住民のウェブサイトにもお載せいたします。


お時間を取らせていただいて恐縮ですが、よろしくお願いいたします。

We Will Always Remember You

In October, Kenji Araki, a director from NY came to Tohoku to film a video as part of another project, and joined the It's Not Just Mud crew for a couple days. This video is addressed to international citizens as a thank you message from the people of Tohoku, and really conveys a warm and encouraging message.

To the people of the world: there is a video we would like you to see.
On March 11, 2011, at 2:46pm, the Pacific coast of the Tohoku region of Japan was hit by the most powerful earthquake the country had ever experienced. As the overwhelming scale of the destruction from the quake and resulting tsunami became clear, and the number of lives reported lost continued to climb to reach over 10,000, the people of our country were devastated with grief and a sense of dejection.

It was during this time that you, the people from different countries across the world, called out to us with a message of strength and support: “Ganbare Nihon!”—Be strong Japan! You lifted out spirits and gave us the courage to keep our heads up and move forward.

Nowhere is this feeling of appreciation stronger than it is with the people of Tohoku. Anyone who has spent time helping with the rebuilding efforts knows how strong these people are, and how thankful they are.

This video by Kenji, titled “We Will Always Remember You” begins with a series of video footage showing the terrible disaster the earthquake wrought.It then turns the spotlight to Taylor Anderson (then 24), an American assistant language teacher (ALT) in Ishinomaki City, Miyagi Prefecture—one of the areas hit hardest by the disaster.

Anderson, was teaching at an elementary school when the earthquake hit, stayed with the frightened children until they had all been safely evacuated. However, on the way home, Anderson herself fell victim to the tsunami that came rushing in after.

Anderson’s students appear in the video and speak of their memories of their teacher: “Taylor sensei was really nice. She really cheered us up when the earthquake struck.”

There were many other touching scenes in the pre-production footage that Kenji showed the It's Not Just Mud crew when he stayed with them in October, and it's great to see the wonderful final product. As Jamie of INJM puts it "If you have been to Tohoku post disaster on any kind of relief mission, this video is relevant to you. Feel free to share."

It's only 7 minutes, but definitely worth watching. I'd recommend having a box of tissues handy nonetheless.

Update: Since the video was pulled from YouTube by the Japanese Chamber of Commerce and Industry of New York due to copyright infringement, despite the wish of the director for the video to find as large an audience as possible, we have embedded a version shared on a Japanese video sharing site below. Please check it out. 


 

Here is an earlier video also by Kenji Araki filmed on March 17th, and conveys a message of support and solidarity for Japan. Ice T and Robin Williams also make appearances in the film.

Rise Again, Japan! from Kenji on Vimeo.

INJM Working on a landslide-relief project in Onagawa town.

This is one of the groups in Tohoku that has played gracious host to Foreign Volunteers Japan members on several visits up to Tohoku so far. The group was originally formed in the famous "Tent City" in Ishinomaki, that ran from mid-March until September 30th, on the grounds of Senshu University in Ishinomaki.

The founder of the group, Jamie El-Banna, is known as the go-to-guy for information regarding local conditions in Ishinomaki. He has worked closely on projects with the British Chamber of Commerce, Ishinomaki 2.0, Samaritan's Purse, and several others. 

Jamie (far right) welcoming a new group of volunteers to INJM HQ.

While working in Osaka, Jamie travelled out to Higashi-Matsushima on a volunteer trip in mid May. Although that was well after the initial rescue phase of the tsunami relief efforts, the level of devastation and unmet needs of the refugees that Jamie encountered, made him realize that there was still tremendous amounts of work that had to be done for the relief efforts. 

After returning to Osaka, he didn't feel right settling back down in the city. There was still so much to be done in the tsunami-affected regions. After a few weeks, he made the dramatic decision to quit his job, sublet his apartment, and moved out to Tent City in Ishinomaki. That was where the core organizational group behind the It's Not Just Mud project was formed.  

Long-term volunteer Manish already muddy by 10:00am.

The name for the project of course, comes from the initial challenge facing anyone getting involved with post-tsunami clean-up and relief work. Not only did the devastating force of the tsunami destroy much of what it came into contact with, it also covered nearly everything else with a thick layer of toxic, bacteria-breeding, noxious and thick mud. 

Much of the clean-up efforts have been focused on removing this mud… but, as Jamie puts it "it’s not just mud. It's about the people who are living through this terrible tragedy, and helping them get back to a normal life." 

Although the early days of the project revolved around clean-up projects coordinated through local volunteer centers, INJM has since expanded their projects. 

As of the end of September, the It's Not Just Mud project has now moved into two neighboring houses in the Watanoha district of Ishinomaki. Impressed by their volunteer activities, the houses were actually offered to the group by refugees who had been able to move to another district of the city.

Half-restored INJM house in late-September

 When the group first moved in, the first floor of both houses were hollowed-out. The walls and floors had been badly damaged, festering sludge under the floors, and rotting insulation in the walls all needed to be extracted, and shattered windows needed to be boarded up. 

Over the last two months, Jamie's group has worked on-top of their other volunteer projects to restore the house to working shape. By the end of September they had floorboards and walls extracted, and removed the tsunami sludge. Soon after that they put up new walls and floorboards (generously provided by Samaritan's Purse), as well as restoring the water and gas. By early October they replaced the electrical sockets, and soon will have a water heater installed. Even without the water heater, Jamie explained that volunteers are able to visit the local temporary hot-springs facilities for a hot bath.  

Knocking down a wall on a recent project.

 

As for the specific projects of INJM, here are their current four main aims:

1. Encouraging volunteering – They do this by offering assistance in coming in terms of advice and logistical support.
2. Salvaging homes in the Ishinomaki area – In many cases, only the ground floor of the home was flooded, and in some cases soaked in sea water for up to three days. Months later, the building materials are waterlogged and rotting, and must be removed. This means removing the walls, ceiling, insulation, and flooring, then the 3-5cm layer of mud that is under everything.
   Normally, this kind of work would be undertaken by a professional builder, but because of the enormous number of damaged homes, the waiting list to get a professional builder is extremely long, and the process is costly. They work with experienced volunteers (several of which are trained builders) to perform this manual labor and gut houses, taking them one step closer to being liveable.
   For some families, they have been living on the second floor of their damaged home for months, passing through the rotting and hazardous first floor daily. Making it safe and clean is a significant improvement for these people.
3. Salvaging homes further afield – INJM work with both local groups in central Ishinomaki and in more remote areas of the region. They have identified the need for this kind of service in towns across the Oshika Peninsula.
4. Delivering fresh fruit and vegetables to areas that don’t have access to such things. Now that the Winter is coming, INJM has begun focusing on the distribution of Winter coats, kerosene heaters, and running a 'kerosene pickup and delivery service' for residents of refugee shelters and temporary housing units without access to a car.

INJM volunteers helping a local sake-shop owner restore her business. 

A popular aspect of the group, is the members' great sense of humor, and the openness to new volunteers. The INJM page documents various F.U.Es. Those are the "Frequently Used Excuses" that unfortunately have been preventing many potential volunteers from making the short trip to Ishinomaki. Here are the official F.U.E from the INJM webpage: 

F.U.E – Frequently Used Excuses

Below you can find some of the most common reasons people use to not come. They all have a valid basis, but after reading below, I think you’ll find that in actual fact, there’s nothing to worry about!

I’m worried I’ll find something really scary in the rubble!!

 The Self Defense Force has cleared most of the large debris in Ishinomaki. Most of the work we do is clearing mud that is 2-4cm thick from homes and properties. You might find something that is emotionally troubling, for example people’s personal belongings or photographs, but it is unlikely you’ll find something truly troubling with the kind of work we do.

I don’t have any experience!!

 Everyone has to start somewhere! You will always have someone experienced working with you who can answer your questions and tell you what to do and how to do it. It’s not too difficult, and after a day you’ll quickly learn what needs to be done, and will be able to teach new volunteers yourself.

I’m not very strong!!

 You won’t be asked to do anything you can’t do. Some jobs do require strength, but if you aren’t cut out for that, there are plenty of things you can do. Plenty of women and older people work with us!

I don’t have any equipment!!

 All the professional building equipment will be provided. Please look here for what you should bring!

I can’t book a bus, I don’t read Kanji!!

 Contact us with your dates and we can arrange someone to do that for you.

I don’t speak Japanese/English!!

 That’s OK! On the work site we will always make sure you understand what you’re supposed to be doing, and there are plenty of people around who can help out if you don’t understand. 

  

If you would be interested in joining the INJM project, please feel free to contact Jamie directly at: jamie[AT]itsnotjustmud[DOT]com

Their webpage:

Http://www.itsnotjustmud.com

Or visit their Facebook fan group to ask for more information: 

http://www.facebook.com/ItsNotJustMud

Foreign Volunteers Japan Delivery Missions

Since I’ve had the chance to join in on two delivery missions with the group, and one with Beau Retallick’s group, I thought I should take this chance to elaborate on what exactly these missions entail.
FVJ delivery to Ishinomaki

Currently, there are shortages of gasoline and rental trucks across Japan. As you could imagine, this creates one of the largest logistical challenges for anyone organizing deliveries up to Tohoku. For our first two trips, we were able to secure a special “Emergency Relief Vehicle” permit for our trucks from local police departments. That allowed us access to the still-closed Tohoku expressway, and emergency vehicles are allowed to cut into gasoline lines at local stations.

Settled for the Time Being

Yakitori Restaurant in Hakata, Fukuoka Dec 2010

It looks like I've settled back in Japan for the (reasonably) long haul. The plan now is to spend the next year or so working hard, saving as much as I can, and getting in shape. The plan is to start researching the Indian subcontinent and the African continent for photo-reportage and socio-documentary ideas. 

I'm dangerously close to losing the window for eventually starting an actual "career" according the widely-accepted definition per se, but I'm focusing on a plan to spending 2012-2013 documenting ethnic minorities, and reasonably undocumented areas around either Africa or India over that period.

I still don't know how much I'll need to save up, but I've got most of the photography equipment I'll need, and being fitter will allow me to endure a larger hiking set-up, and a more grueling route. 

Hazara children of the Bamiyan region in Afghanistan, August 2010

I have to apologize again for not having added more entries on the Gaza protests, or any on Afghanistan so far. Those experiences certainly left a deep impression on me, and I plan to revisit them soon, now that I've resettled in Tokyo comfortably. 

As mentioned earlier, this is the year that I will get properly fit, and I don't mean that in the "soon-to-be-broken New Year's Resolution" way.

In Afghanistan, I gained a considerable amount of weight due the security risks, and the carb-rich local food. Despite the haunting beauty of the Afghan mountain ranges, many of the hills are still littered with Soviet-war era landmines, so that ruled out hiking. Jogging wasn't really an option due to the kidnapping risk.

Part of my kickboxing training is to learn how to do intensive self-training with shadow-boxing, crunches, push-ups, jumprope routines, and hopefully chin-ups (within the next 4 months - my weight/strength ratio won't allow that yet.)

My Kickboxing Instructor T-98 competing Nov 2010

Last night at kickboxing at the Scramble Gym in Shibuya marked my 4th bloody nose in as many months. So - blocking techniques are something I definitely need to learn quickly.

Since sparring partners are usually determined by weight-class, I'm put up against some pretty-intimidating Japanese opponents. 

Anyways, the other resolution is to get my on-line presence back up to speed. That includes re-instating my Photo-Shelter account for potential photo sales, winnowing-down my messy Flickr account, and getting this blog back up with weekly entries on Tuesdays. 

See you next Tuesday!